Service & Leadership Headlining Graduation Speeches to Class of 2018

In graduation speeches around the country, service and leadership are taking center stage. In his Princeton Class Day speech, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker said, “I want to impart to you that you are powerful. Life’s not about the degrees that you get; it’s about the service that you give.” He spent much of his speech on the topic of leading with love, which he learned from his mentor, civil rights activist and Georgia Representative John Lewis. Meanwhile, Lewis was giving his own commencement speech to Harvard class of 2018 in which he implored them, "Take a long deep breath and take it all in, but tomorrow, I want you to roll up your sleeves. The world is waiting for talented men and women to lead it to a better place.”